ISTANBUL, June 27. /TASS/. Turkish historian and professor Ilber Ortayli has called for restricting tourists and worshippers' access to Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (formerly the Church of ...

The church resembles the Hagia Sophia, built in the 10th century AD upon the ruins of the Temple of Zeus. Credit: Deiadameain Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. The Greek Orthodox Church of the ...

The history of the Hagia Sophia (which means “Holy Wisdom”) stretches back to the year 360, when a Christian church was built in the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul).

However, the Hagia Sophia did not remain an Orthodox church for long. After Constantinople fell during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the structure was converted into a Catholic church.

As cities go, Istanbul’s history makes it one of the most fascinating, patchworked hubs around, and the Hagia Sophia, a vast complex which has operated as a cathedral, a mosque, a museum and ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

ISTANBUL: Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia — a 1,488-year-old architectural marvel that has transformed from church to mosque to museum and back to mosque — is undergoing a ...

The Hagia Sophia remains a highly popular tourist destination, attracting millions of travelers. Here is a detailed look at this ancient UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul, Turkey.

BYZANTINE ORIGINS: HAGIA SOPHIA AS CATHEDRAL. In its current form, the Hagia Sophia succeeded two earlier churches — the Magna Ecclesia (360 CE) and Theodosius II’s church ... its vast interior ...

The Hagia Sophia is at the centre of Turkey's Byzantine, Ottoman and secular history. How did the sixth-century cathedral become a Waqf property, get converted to a museum, and again a mosque?